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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Drama > Family > Magic > 16 Wishes (2009/Image Blu-ray) + Mrs. Miracle (2009/Sony DVD)

16 Wishes (2009/Image Blu-ray) + Mrs. Miracle (2009/Sony DVD)

 

Picture: B-/C     Sound: B-/C+     Extras: C-/D     Main Programs: C-

 

 

Prior to the 1980s, the ideas of dreams and wishes really amounted to freedom, imagination, hope and a better tomorrow, but since then, it has oddly led to being stuck with dumb people, dysfunctional families, stuck in nightmares that are passed off as dreams and have been stunningly regressive as fantasies and as storytelling.  Two new examples are now out in time for the holidays, another factor that has become tainted in this recent cycle of bad comedy/drama.

 

Peter DeLuise directs the silly 16 Wishes (2009), with Disney alum Debby Ryan plays Abby, whose 16th birthday brings the same number of wishes.  Lucky girl?  Of course not!  To fill 90 minutes, she will be a ditz, making all kinds of mistakes, not thinking out what she has done and causing more trouble than good.  I never bough this for a minute and she has little chemistry with Jean-Luc Bilodeau (of the family TV show Kyle XY).  It is like a happy Twilight Zone episode (a contradiction in terms) versus not even being a better extended episode of Bewitched or I Dream Of Jeannie.  I was dreaming of a surprisingly good comedy and got bad formula instead.  Lame.

 

Almost worse is Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond, Angie) in the title role of Mrs. Miracle (also 2009), a goofy telefilm based on some kind of best selling book (who bought this!) from writer Debbie Macomber.  She plays Mrs. Merkle (get it, Merkle is close to being spelled like… well, you know) who becomes a sort of Mary Poppins on downers, helping a young widower (James Van Der Beek, long past the fall of Dawson’s Creek, once again playing an extremely slight variant of himself) who has twin sons (oh, the irony) and here comes Christmas.  He also needs a woman and of course, everyone needs to be stuck in a family, or they don’t deserve to be happy or enjoy the holiday, implying anyone else is disposable, but not as disposable as this mess.  Affirm Films backed this dud along with Hallmark Cards and their tired cable channel.  It shows and wow, is it boring!

 

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Wishes is weak, including in its color and has more motion blur, while the anamorphically enhanced Miracle DVD miraculously looks worse with all the same issues, plus being that much softer.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix on Wishes is limited in soundfield, has dialogue that is weakly recorded and is overall not what a new recording should be in any medium, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Miracle is again worse with weaker recording, weaker soundfield and overall low-sounding playback.  Extras on Wishes include a trailer, Music Video and Cast Interviews, while Miracle offers none.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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